A prayer for the coming week

It was the summer of 1972, I was eight years old, and I was excited about the song from Godspell, "Day By Day".  I didn't know anything about Godspell except that the song was on the radio and it was a cool song.  I remember finding the Godspell album at the store where my grandmother worked and just almost shouting, "It's Day By Day, Robin and Company!" (the credited singers for the track.)

I now know that Godspell is a musical loosely based on the Gospel of Matthew and containing interpretations of other Biblical stories.  In the '80's, I saw a community production of Godspell in Tallahassee, Florida, where the cast members were costumed '80's style (including one member dressed as Michael Jackson).

This song has been an earworm for me for the last few days.

I've been very disappointed this past week in the behavior of many who claim to wear the name "Christian".  Frankly, we're called to be better than this.  It seems that we are more interested in protecting our political power and influence than we are in carrying out the command of Jesus to "go and preach the gospel to all nations" and in fulfilling the greatest command to "love one another as I have loved you". 

This week, I fear we will face similar turmoil.  I fear we will see truth-tellers branded as liars and people that will posture before the camera and the microphone who claim to want the truth and who claim to care about people and care about this country--when, in fact, they are addicts whose drug of choice is power and prestige. 

Christians are not called to this.  I am not called to this.  The power Jesus had when he was on earth, he exercised to the glory of his Father and to the service of others. 

The song "Day By Day", which is a cool song, is also a prayer.  The song is one chorus, repeated six times. 

I think it's a good prayer for the coming week.

Day by day
Day by day
Oh dear Lord
Three things I pray
To see Thee more clearly
Love Thee more dearly
Follow Thee more nearly
Day by day.

Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.

If you want to hear this cool song, click on the picture above.

Day 2 of prayer

Dear God,

In 1 Kings 3, you appeared to King Solomon in a dream and told him, ask me for anything and I will give it to you.

Solomon asked for wisdom.

Please give Donald Trump the heart to ask for wisdom from you.  He desperately needs it because he leads our country and what he decides will have consequences that echo down through generations.

James 1:5 says that if anyone lacks wisdom, they should ask God, who gives freely without finding fault, and it will be given to them.

Please help Donald Trump realize this verse and ask you for wisdom.

In 2 Samuel 12, the prophet Nathan came to King David and confronted him about his sin with Bathsheba.

I don't know, dear God, if Donald Trump has a Nathan in his life, one who will tell him the truth without flinching.  If Trump does not, please send him one.  If Trump has a Nathan, please give that Nathan the courage to tell Trump the truth and please give Donald Trump the heart to listen to him.

If a decision Trump has made is a good decision, and he knows it, help him not to back down in spite of any opposition.

If a decision Trump has made is a poor decision, please give him the wisdom to admit it and to say that he was wrong.

Please also give him not only one Nathan, but many Nathans who will tell him the truth.

I ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.

Repenting of hate

On Facebook, I have a web page where I post my musings about current events.

Last Friday, I posted that I hated Donald Trump.

I was wrong.

Although it's not a sin to examine his policies and actions and point out where you think he's wrong and where you think he's making serious mistakes  . . . it is a sin to hate the man.  One can critique actions and point out sin without falling into the trap of hate.  Or, like a friend of mine said, going down the road of hate.

I'm very angry and very frustrated about certain current events, and I dislike how some are using those events to divide us further and stir up discord.  The Bible has very harsh words for people who store up discord among people.  (See Proverbs 6:19, among others.).

The Bible is also very clear that we are to love one another (John 13:34-35.). I believe that includes Donald Trump as well.  The parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 follows Jesus' declaration that all the law and the prophets hang on the commands to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. When Jesus was asked, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus responded with a story about a man who was of a group despised by the Jews that did good to a Jew.

Paul, in I Timothy 2, tells Timothy that prayers and petitions should be made for those in authority. The main person in authority at that time was the Roman emperor, a man considered Lord and, at the least, not a friend to Christians. 

So for the next 30 days, I am gonig to do just that. 

I'm going to post a prayer a day for Donald Trump. 

Would you like to join me?  If you would, I'd love your company. 

Today's prayer:

Dear God:

I was wrong when I said I hated Donald Trump.  I do not want to go down the road of hate.  I am sorry, and I ask for your forgiveness.

Today I pray for the protection of Donald Trump, his wife Melania, their son Barron, and Donald Trump's other children, Donald Jr., Ivanka, Eric, and Tiffany.  May those who seek to do them harm be stopped.  May those who protect them be alert at all times to keep them safe.  May President Trump and his family cooperate with those who protect them.  Help President Trump and his family to also be alert to those who wish to harm them without being paranoid and overly suspicious. 

I ask this in the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Just my .04, adjusted for inflation. 

Quiet time

This morning, I had a quiet time.

People who read some of my Facebook or blog posts will be surprised at that statement, because I've written before about how I hate the term "quiet time".  "Quiet time," in the church I left, was used to refer to a mandatory time of daily prayer and Bible study.  And you would be asked, what are you studying in your quiet times?

The term "quiet time" has very bad connotations for me, and that is why I refuse to use it when I talk about "a period of time for prayer and Bible study".

This morning, however, I sat at our dining room table, eating the granola-and-plain-yogurt mixture I've gotten addicted to lately, and read a few Scripture sections from a devotional book that's part of my Logos software package (I have a subscription to Logos.com, a service that provides multiple Bible translations as well as a number of other study/devotional resources.)

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, the forty days before Easter, and I guess it's appropriate that I began this period with a morning time of reflection--of "quiet", shall we say.

I sat with yogurt and granola, a glass of water, and read about Jesus being both the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2) and wondered, if Jesus is the perfecter of our faith, does that mean I don't have to constantly "work on" my faith?  If so, that takes a lot of the pressure off of me to "get it right".

This, I think, is what is meant by "quiet time" -- a time to be still and quiet before the Lord, to listen to Him speak in whatever way He chooses.  A time just to sit, and breathe, and not worry about the rushing and helter-skelter of the coming day.

Soon, I will have to leave the computer and start some running around.  I see the chiropractor today, I need to plan my meals for the month, do this month's budget, cook dinner tonight, and learn some new music for our praise team.

But this morning, I had a quiet time.

Perhaps it's this kind of "quiet time" that I need more often.

Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.

After yesterday's shootings, I am lamenting . . .

I am tired.
I am numb.
I am in grief.
And I am lamenting.

I am borrowing some words from the book of Daniel, from the book of Ezra, from the book of Habakkuk, and from my own thoughts.  For what it's worth, this is Tina's Psalm of lament:

Oh, God, I am too ashamed to lift up my head to you.  For we have acted wickedly.  We have not kept your commands to love you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

I shake my fist and demand to know why the way of the wicked prospers.  And yet, I know this is not your fault.  It is the fault of us, who go our own way, ignore you, ignore what you would have us to do.  We ignore your love.  We ignore your commands.  We wish to go our own way and do things our way, what seems right in our own eyes.  We do not look to you for guidance.

My sin is great and the sin of my people, of this country, is great.  I struggle with pride, with prejudice, with judgmentalism, with believing that I am better than others.  And I struggle with believing that you will listen and answer prayers according to what is best.

We honor what is vile among men, and that is why wicked people freely strut about.

I cry out for the souls of those who were lost yesterday, for the souls that have been lost in too many shootings this year, for the souls of those who commit murder, especially those that commit murder and acts of terror and claim that it is in Your name.

I cry out for those who would heap blame on groups of people when it is only certain members of those groups that are guilty of such acts.

I cry out for those who are fleeing evil, and for those who don't want "those people" anywhere near them.

I cry out for your justice, and for your mercy, and for your action.

Please listen.  Please, if it is your will, please save this nation before it is too late.

For us who are Christians -- for me, because I claim to be Christian -- make us, make me, your hands and feet.  It is only in that way that we -- that I -- will ever be able to show the love of Christ, the love that compelled him to die for us, and the love that compels us -- that should compel me -- to love him and to serve others.

Help us not to hate.  Help us to be fearless in condeming evil, but compassionate towards those who commit the evil.  Help us to erase the hate and the prejudice.  Help us only to commit love in the name of Christ, not evil.  Help us to be prudent, and yet compassionate and fearless.

I weep.  I lament.  This is a time of lament and not of rejoicing.  It is a time of grief.  For we have sinned, for I have sinned, and we -- and I -- desperately need your forgiveness.  We -- I -- do not deserve your grace that you give as a gift to us.  But we -- but I -- need it.

I can do nothing more but throw myself upon your mercy as a compassionate and merciful God and pray, and beg, please listen.  Please act.

I know that the Lord is good, and his mercies are from generation to generation.  As angry and impatient as I get with you, and as angry as I have often been over events in my life, time and time again you have shown your mercy and your grace by granting me blessings I do not deserve, by answering prayers in spite of my attitude and my unbelief.

Your mercy is great, and you are a God of compassion.
You are holy, and cannot tolerate sin.
I grieve, I lament, for my sin; for our sins.
Father, forgive us, for we know not what we do.

In the name of Jesus, may this be so.
Amen.

Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.

Worship Wednesday: Praying for healing

A Facebook friend of mine is fighting two brain tumors . . . a year after she beat one.

A family that attended my congregation is living a nightmare.  Their adult son was seriously injured in an accident and has a severe brain injury.

Both are asking for prayers for healing.

I have a rough time when I pray for healing, both for myself and for others, because I know God doesn't always answer prayers the way we want them to.  And I don't know if God does "miraculous" healings in this day and age.  Some believe that he does, some believe that he does not.

I believe God can do anything, and to me, "anything" means "anything"--including instantaneous healing.  But it's rare that instantaneous healing happens.  And people still die, and people still suffer with chronic illness.  People still lose loved ones and they grieve.

Author Anne Lamont wrote a book called Help, Thanks, Wow, which she calls "the three essential prayers". (I have heard of one other prayer added to that, "Oops".)  Right now, the two families that I've referenced are praying "help" prayers.  Help me.  Help my son.

David and other Psalmists prayed many "help" prayers.  David was chased by men who sought to kill him.  I wonder if he ever ducked behind a rock with his heart pounding, not daring to breathe because he knew that if he did, he'd be discovered and possibly killed on the spot.  I guess you could say that Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane was a "help" prayer; help for what He knew was lying ahead. 

I don't know if God is going to heal the people I'm referring to.  They don't know if they are going to be healed.  Perhaps that is a definition of "faith" --  choosing to walk with God in spite of not knowing what the outcome of their circumstances will be. 

In the meantime, I will pray "help".  I will pray "help" for both families.

And I will pray the prayer that Father Tim from Jan Karon's Mitford series calls "the prayer that never fails."

Thy will be done.

Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.